Browse Author: beakatude

Shoppin’ for a Gym Bag

I’ve been running for years but realized that now that I’m getting older and more prone to injury, I thought it would be a good idea to get a personal trainer to figure out why my back hurts every morning, why I almost bonked on the last Half Marathon, and how to get my t-rex arms stronger.  So, after much debate and shopping around, I joined Crunch and got an OK deal for a month-to-month membership and 10 training sessions.  I’m looking forward to taking some of the classes that friends have been raving about and curious to see what the trainer will put me though.  Hey, maybe in a month I’ll be able to do a real boy push-up and kick butt on the next Half Marathon later this month!

I’m planning to go straight after work so I’m going to need a super cute gym bag to carry all my stuff.  I think I’m going to be stopping at the lululemon shop this weekend!!!

Holiday Weekend

It’s weird to have a national holiday fall on a weekend.  July 4th was on a Sunday this year so it meant it would be a regular 2-day weekend for me.  Since I didn’t request Monday (today) off, we hung out in the city and had a regular weekend with a sprinkling of illegal fireworks.

On Saturday, we slept in and had brunch down the street.  We scored a table outside and tied up the dog to my chair.  He was pretty well-behaved with the occasional growling at dogs walking by.

The rest of the day was spent running errands and Jes made mushroom, swiss, and bacon burgers.  They were tasty.  I almost forgot what beef tasted like.

On Sunday, I woke up a bit earlier to go for a little run and had some oatmeal to offset the fatty burger from the night before.  In the afternoon, Jes and I took the bus to the Fillmore Jazz Festival for a little jazz, street food, and sunshine.  We went two years ago and had a good time.  That was also when and where we discovered Kim Nalley, a jazz singer that has lost of charisma and a great voice.  She performed there again this year and we got off the bus just in time for her performance.

We also picked up some pork buns, duck buns, boba for me, beer for Jes, a Puerto Rican pernil made with pulled pork, tomato, avocado in a soft flat bread.

We walked around some more and stopped for cheaper beer for Jes (at the local liquor store) and I got a cup of frozen yogurt from Fraiche.  Yum.

Later that evening, we made another set of burgers and headed out for some fireworks around Fisherman’s Wharf.  Unfortunately we didn’t give ourselves enough time to get out there for the 9:30 show and ended up walking a long way to see a bunch of illegal fireworks along the way.  Oh well. We’ll have to try again next year.

I went back to work today and managed to cram all 8 treatment sessions together by starting early and working through lunch.  I was done with the kids by 2:30 and out of the hospital by 3:15.  Awesome.

Good enough…

On Sunday I was in the mood for some home cookin’ so I took a shot at making my mom’s Moo Paloh.  It’s basically pork, hard-boiled egg, and mustard greens stewed in a sweet/savory broth served over rice.  In addition to this dish, I made my favorite pork-stuffed cucumber soup and Jes cooked up the remaining mustard greens with the pork that I pulled out of the soup’s broth.

Paired with our 2003 Nickel & Nickel Chardonnay and it was a yummy Sunday dinner.  The Moo Paloh didn’t come out as good as my mom’s but it was good enough for my first try.

Sun and Surf

We’re back from Hawaii and we truly made the most of our last full day. Yesterday I woke up early and headed out to Starbucks for a quiet morning with a cup of coffee and free internet. Jes got to sleep in and I watched the rain come down. By the time Jes woke up, it had stopped raining and we were ready to take on a full day of chillin’ before catching our red-eye flight the same evening.

Breakfast was at a place called Eggs ‘n’ Things. There was a very large out front and we ended up waiting about an hour for a table for 2. Luckily the wait was worth it. I had a scrumptious coconut waffle that was made super thin with just the right amount of crunch and chewiness. To make it even tastier I dipped the waffle in coconut syrup and guava syrup. MMMM…

The rest of the day was spent at the beachside bar. We snagged a table with a good view of the beach and watched the sunbathers get soaked by an unpredictably high tide. The waves were extra active that afternoon and it looked like a lot of fun. We didn’t go in that afternoon since we had already checked out of our hotel room. It was still fun watching though.  By the way, you like my new floppy hat?  It’s dorky but totally saved my face and ears.

We met up with Yoon for ramen around 1:15 and then headed back to the hotel for some more people watching and a refreshing beverage. We sat and sat and sat until the sun went down. It was so nice to be able to do that with nothing better to do.

We eventually made it over to a cute little Japanese place that served really traditional items including the most amazing broth I had ever tasted. It was so rich that it was served in a tiny tiny bowl.

Yoon later picked us up from the hotel and we caught out 11 pm flight home. We were sad to leave but also had a wonderful time. Sometimes 4 days in Hawaii is all you need to rest and reset.

Happy Longest Day of the Year!

Today is the first day of summer and we are having a great time here in Hawaii.  To celebrate the longest day of the year, Jes went out for his first surfing lesson this morning. He took a one-hour lesson and caught 3 waves!  He had a good time but was pooped out by the end.

We just got back from a day at the pool and we’re heading out for a cheesy luau at Germaine’s.  Jes is looking forward to seeing some dancing coconuts and eating kalua pork.

Umbrellas are cool.

On Sunday morning, I was up by 5:45 am again and took a little stroll down to the beach to watch the surfers.  Once Jes woke up, we headed down for breakfast at the Beachhouse and then over to the towel hut for a day at the beach.  We rented an umbrella for the day and it was totally worth it.  They set us up with two beach chairs and plenty of towels.  We were there from around 9:00 am and had it to ourselves until 5:30!  So we lazied around in the sun and then under the umbrella and then back in the sun.  We’d take a few dips in the ocean to cool off and then go back to the umbrella.  What fun!  By 10:30, the poolside bar was open and the number tag on our umbrella was flipped over as a signal to the waiter that we needed assistance.  We sat for another hour with drinks on the side table until it was time for lunch.

For lunch we walked over to Ramen Nakamura, Jes’ favorite ramen place, and stuffed ourselves silly.  We browsed through some of the stores on the way back to the hotel, gathered up our belongings from our room, and headed back to the umbrella.  Ah…it was just sitting there waiting for us.  How nice.

We spent another couple hours in our chairs until Yoon and her friend came by to join us.  We asked for two more chairs and the four of us just hung out watching the people on the beach.  Jes also had fun floating in the waves and I bobbed up and down in the water with my waterproof camera watching all the activity around me.

At the end of the afternoon, Yoon took us for a drive up the coast to see China Wall.  It’s actually called Koko Mini Beach Park and it had a spectacular view.  We carefully walked down the rocky steps to a flat area just along the crashing waves.

There’s a series of cut-up rocks and walls that make the water swirl violently in the middle and then crash up against the walls.  It was pretty fun to watch!

We drove farther up the coast to find a few other pretty places to take photos and then headed back to town.

Dinner was at Azure inside the Royal Hawaiian.  We had their tasting menu and I really enjoyed all of the items, well, maybe except for the veal.  Poor baby cow…  By the end of the night, we were pooped and asleep by 11.  It was yet another good day on the rock.  Umbrella day was fun.